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Frontier Lord Chapter 039 – The Long Eared Trio Act 2

「Is it clear now?」

「Did you get it?」

After Senai and Aihan explained the power to me, I couldn’t help but sigh.

It certainly wasn’t right of me to tell two young children to explain things in a clear and orderly manner, but I just hadn’t had a choice. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my lack or prior knowledge, or because the sheer volume of the information was just too much, but I had a hard time taking it all in.

「Please give me some time… I’m still trying to fit the pieces together… In other words, Young Senai and Aihan, you’re both part of a tribe called the Woodsman Tribe, right?」

「That’s right! The woodsmen that live in the woods!」

「The Woodsman Tribe that protects the woods!」

「So the Woodsmen live in the woods, protect the woods, and are the woods… And from what I understood, the last part, this being the woods, is what’s most important to the Woodsman Tribe, right?」

「That’s right. When a woodsman is about to die, they transfer their power to a seed.」

「They bestow their wisdom and power to a seed.」

「And it’s our job to plant that seed in a special place.」

「The seed then becomes a tree, which brings others together and forms a forest.」

A person entrusted their seed to someone close to them at the moment of death, in the hopes of becoming the woods. The person to whom the seed was entrusted protected the seed and nurtured it to let the other person become the woods.

By touching the tree that sprouts from that seed, one is able to learn of the dead person’s knowledge. It was both like a gravestone, and a book, from which one could learn. While also being a family tree, from which one could feel their bloodline. The Woodsman Tribe lived in the woods precisely to protect those trees.

Was the summary of their story.

And the two powers that Senai and Aihan had were unique to the Woodsman Tribe and were the powers to grow the woods and protect the woods. 

「So your first power involves you sharing your Mana with plants and tree, accelerating their growth. While the second power is creating barriers that protect from diseases and miasma… Is that right?」

「That’s totally right! You’re amazing, Eyma!」

「You’re so smart, Eyma. What a good girl!」

I smiled at their compliments, figuring that this was most likely the words the other adults used to compliment Senai and Aihan.

Seeing my smile Senai and Aihan’s ears began to move up and down, showing how excited they were.

According to their words both Senai and Aihan were still inexperienced, so making a forest was quite impossible for them at the current point in time. The most they could do now was make a single seed sprout or create a small barrier.

Despite this, and although their powers were still undeveloped, if they continued the process each day, they would still contribute greatly to a tree’s growth. And despite it being small the barrier was still able to serve its function and protect from diseases. Overall, their powers were nothing short of amazing.

And it was precisely these two powers that Senai and Aihan had promised their parents not to share with the humans.

「And your parents’ dying wish was that you do not let the humans know of these powers and that the humans don’t see you using them, right?」

「That’s right!」

「Correct.」

「In that case, why are you living with Dias? Isn’t he a human? Wouldn’t being around humans make it harder to hide these powers?」

「We were scared of Dias at first. We knew we had to keep our promise so we thought of running. But Dias is just too kind…」

「Dias’ voice is just too gentle. It’s similar to our parents’ voices.」

「Kind… and a bit stinky…」

「It really is a bit stinky.」

「But it was still way kinder than that frogman’s voice! So we decided to keep living with him.」

「And all the others were kind as well, so we just stayed… Despite Dias’ stinky breath!」

The two of them spoke with smiles on their faces.

Although I’d already been able to figure out that the so-called Dragon Slayer Dias wasn’t that scary,  seeing the two children speak of him so kindly only strengthened that thought.

On the contrary, he was apparently quite a kind person… It was evident by seeing how happy Senai and Aihan were.

「By living with everyone we gradually learned that they weren’t bad people. So we began thinking that it might not be that bad to tell them about our powers…」

「We don’t think that Dias will use them for bad things…」

「But it’s just that our father told us that we mustn’t talk about these powers no matter what, and that we must never be seen using them…」

「And mother told us that we must definitely keep this promise…」

「I see. So that’s how it is. You want to keep the promise to your parents, but you also want to help Lord Dias… That’s why you’re searching for a way to help without breaking your promise… And that’s why you wanted to talk with someone about it…」

As I recapped everything both Senai and Aihan nodded while looking straight at me.

(It seems I’ll have to give this some thought…)

「Come to think of it, what was that thing about the earth’s power being sucked dry. You said that Lord Dias’ farm wouldn’t work, right? Can a Woodsman do something about it with those powers of yours?」

「That’s right, the earth here has had its power sucked dry.」

「And even if we pour our Mana into it, it immediately gets sucked dry.」

「We tried burying mother and father’s seeds in the fields, but since the earth doesn’t have any power left, they couldn’t sprout…」

「Sharing our Mana doesn’t work no matter how many times we try it…」

「A barrier is needed so that the earth’s power doesn’t get sucked dry.」

「If there’s a barrier the earth’s power won’t get sucked.」

「Hmmm…. I don’t quite get it. For starters, I don’t get that it means that the earth’s power has been sucked dry. If I know what’s causing it then we might get away without using your powers…」

I said.

The two of them quickly responded, 「We also don’t know what’s causing it.」

「We have no clue.」

「We don’t know for sure, but it’s definitely not someone bad that’s doing it.」

「I think it’s a good and kind somebody that’s doing it.」

「But if it sucks it all dry then it’ll just become a desert. It should know its limits…」

「Francis and Francois’ food will disappear if it continues.」

They talked one over the other.

Their senses were telling them that the ground’s power was being sucked dry, but they knew nothing more.

The way Senai and Aihan were talking about it made it sound like something, or rather someone was causing the phenomenon, however, that just seemed crazy to me.

I, in turn, believed that some kind of natural phenomenon was causing the soil to be bad and not yield any crops. While also drying everything just shy of the place turning into a desert.

Given that it could be fixed with a Woodsman’s barrier meant that it was some kind of special disease or maybe a monster’s miasma that was causing the whole phenomenon.

In any case, it would be impossible to find a solution before first finding the source. And given the current situation the discussion shifted in a way, where we began to think of how Senai and Aihan could use their powers without Dias and the others finding out.

「Young Senai, Aihan, Can’t you sneak into the field while Dias and the others aren’t there and use your powers?」

「We can’t. Dias is always on the field!」

「He’s working hard everyday waiting for the field to do good.」

「And once he finishes work he comes back and we’re together until we fall asleep…」

「It’s never just the two of us.」

「Hmph… In that case, why don’t you do it during the night when everyone’s sleeping? That way you won’t have to worry about anyone seeing you, and you can freely use your powers.」

Hearing my suggestion Senai and Aihan became wide eyed. However, their faces soon turned gloomy again, as if they’d remembered something.

「That won’t work… We’ll also be sleeping during the night!」

「I can’t wake up once I fall asleep…」

「I see… In that case how about I wake you up? I don’t usually sleep that much, and I’m usually awake during the night… And I’ve done nothing but sleep this past week…  Waking up during the night is no big deal! Despite how I look, my eyes work great during the night, and I can easily guide us… You just need to show me your house and I’ll sneak in during the night to wake you up.」

Hearing my explanation Senai and Aihan’s faces lit up. Perhaps they were simply excited that I’d offered a solution to their problem, or maybe they were eager for it to become evening so that they could carry out their plan. Whatever the case, the two held each other’s hands and were bouncing up and down.

「In this case I’ll wait here until nightfall. You two should keep acting as you usually do so that you don’t get found out… Hey! Are you listening? If you act all excited like that you’ll be found out by Dias the moment you go back!」

I was planning to discuss the details of the plan with them, however, Senai and Aihan seemed so excited that it proved impossible to talk to them.

I just hope that they’ll act normal and that Dias and the others won’t find out…

God, I’m so worried…